The Hamilton County Board of Elections spent two-and-a-half hours Tuesday morning delving into an investigation of last week’s election, which was plagued with problems caused by a new electronic poll book system.

One thing the board learned was this – the company that sold that sold it the $1.4 million system, Tenex, was willing to take the blame for the technical snafus.

WVXU politics reporter Howard Wilkinson talked with news director Maryanne Zeleznik this morning about the problems Hamilton County had with its new electronic polling system last Tuesday night; and how they plan to fix it.

Tuesday, over 198,000 Hamilton County voters checked in at their polling places and were processed with the brand-new electronic poll books and had absolutely no problems whatsoever.

They checked in; they voted; they went home with a “I voted” sticker for their lapels and shirt pockets.

But for a relative handful of voters – no one is quite sure yet how many, but board of elections officials call it a “significant number” – the new system caused a major headache and that ended up with several thousand more voters than usual casting provisional ballots; and, perhaps, disenfranchised some – probably because they got fed up with waiting and left the polling places.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections has identified a dozen voter registration forms filed by the campaign to legalize marijuana that may be fraudulent.

And, election officials say, they are examining hundreds more filed by The Strategy Network, a company headed by Ian James, who is also running ResponsibleOhio, the campaign for Issue 3, which would legalize marijuana.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections unanimously voted Monday morning to authorize its staff to prepare a contract with Tenax, a Florida company, to place the electronic poll books in all 373 of the county’s polling places.

Ohio’s director of elections has told Hamilton County Democratic chairman Tim Burke that a voter information poster Burke objects to must be posted in all polling places.

Burke, who is also chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Elections, wrote an e-mail to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted asking if the board was required to put up the two-foot by three-post with Husted’s name in large letters at the bottom.

Husted is a candidate for re-election; and Burke told WVXU he believed it amounts to electioneering inside polling places, which is not allowed.

A the Hamilton County Board of Elections will hold a telethon-style event Tuesday and again on October 6th so voters can make sure they are up-to-date on their voter registration.

Hamilton County elections director Sherry Poland said the board will staff a phone bank from 5 to 6 p.m. on both days to help voters. Oct. 6 is the last day to register to vote in the November election.

“Voter Check is an opportunity for county residents to contact the board of elections to check up on their voter registration status,’’ Poland said.